Friday, October 1, 2010

REVISITING TOFU "BACON"

Steamed baby green beans and patty pan squash with Tofu "Bacon"

The other day I revisited a recipe from my very first cookbook, "The Almost No-fat Cookbook"-- a simple recipe for Tofu "Bacon". I hadn't made it for a long time, but I really wanted "bacon" on a fresh tomato sandwich! So I got out a block of extra-firm tofu and mixed up the marinade in the book.

The results were tasty but, though I used Kikkoman Lite Soy Sauce (low salt), it seemed too salty to me. So, this morning before I left for work I "tweaked" my recipe to give it more flavor with less salt. It marinated all day and I browned a few slices tonight to flavor our steamed green beans and baby patty pan squash (the latter from our garden).

Pat the tofu with a clean cloth and shave it into long, thin slices with a cheese slicer (see pictures below).

Mix together the Marinade ingredients in a shallow container. Carefully add the tofu slices to the Marinade, making sure that they are covered by the Marinade. Cover the container and refrigerate it. Let the tofu marinate for at least 8 hours, or for a few days.

When you are ready to cook the "Bacon", heat a large, sturdy nonstick skillet over high heat. Add about 1/2 tablespoon of dark sesame oil to the skillet and swirl it around the pan to cover the bottom. When the pan is hot, add some of the slices.

Fry the slices on both sides until golden-brown and a little crispy. Turn the slices several times as the cook. If you cool the slices in the pan, they crisp up more that way, but I just cool them on a plate and cook the next batch. (Add a bit more dark sesame oil for each batch.)

The "bacon" is delicious hot or cold, and terrific on a vegan BLT!

Vegan "BLT", except I used avocado instead of lettuce-- this was my breakfast this morning!

(Note: the Nutrition Facts are approximate because the number of slices you get varies. I calculated this using 12 ounces of extra-firm tofu cut into 24 slices, and 1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil in total.)

The first time I made this recipe, I used tofu - it was excellent! The second time, I replaced the tofu with eggplant, sliced very thin with a mandoline (adding 1-1/2 tbsp of toasted sesame oil to the marinade. Then I dehydrated the eggplant strips at 104° for about 8 hours or until crisp. Made "AELT"s with the eggplant, tomato, avocado and Vegenaise on romaine lettuce leaves. OMG! The absolute closest thing to bacon that this 3-year vegan has tasted! It has the same sweet, salty, chewy and crisp taste and texture.

If the thin tofu slices stick to the pan after you lay them into it, just let them cook until they release.

By the way, I once sliced a bunch of eggplants paper thin on a (vegan only) deli slicer - the only way to slice veggies this thinly that I have found - and fried them, skin and all. No marinade, nothing, just a little salt after they were fried. I took the resulting crips to a bbq and they were gone in about 3 minutes.

ShareThis

No reproduction of the following material without permission from the author. If you would like to share any of my recipes with others, or on a forum, or another site, let me know, and please credit me, my website and the book the recipe appeared in, if I note that in the recipe. You are welcome to link to this page from your site. Thanks!